Computer turns itself on

I've notice within the past week that my computer turns itself on some time after I've turned it off. When I go to bed, I turn it off by clicking on "Shut Down." I watch as the light goes on on the front. When I come in the next morning, it is running. I thought my wife was turning it on, but she says she hasn't touched it.

I'm running Windows 8.1
16G of RAM
C is a 256 GB SSD with 141 GB space left on it
D is a 1T drive with about 630 GB left on it.
I run Norton 360 fulltime
Malwarebytes once each day
Spybot about once a week
So, I'm clear.
The power settings are not set any place I can find to turn it on.

You should check your BIOS and see if Wake-On-LAN is enabled. If you have a network setup one of your devices may be trying to access your computer and thus turning it on. Disabling this setting should solve the problem, if this is the problem. HTH

As Browni intimated, it's very important to check Task Scheduler for any tasks that wake the computer. I had your problem a while ago, and solved it this way. From memory it was a stock Windows 7 task. Win7, unlike XP, comes with a number of them set up by default for things like disk defragging and more, one or some of which might wake your computer from sleep or hibernation unless reconfigured by you. So go check 'em!

Examining the system log around the time the computer woke can also give you the answer, or at least a clue.

Also a number of rude third-party software installers will stick a task in Task Scheduler, usually without even telling you, and often for no good reason at all.

It's worth doing the above even if you think you've solves the problem, to avoid nasty surprises in future. And always check your Task Scheduler after all non-Microsoft software installations to see if anything's been added.

I found a line in the registry from a program that installed itself on my computer because I missed checking a box. I had uninstalled it, but there were lines in the registry. I thought I had taken care of all of them, but missed this one. Since deleting it, I haven't had the problem. Thanks fellows. I appreciate your help. I appreciate this forum and the Windows Secrets that are published.

In most computer's BIOS, there is a setting under "Power" as to how you want the computer to act after a power failure. You can set it to stay off or Turn On.
If you set it to Turn On, and sometime during the night there is even a very brief power failure (glitch) your computer will turn back ON.

I have mine set that way, but my computer and all it's peripherals are on a Switchable power strip, that I turn OFF after shutting down the PC. Because......when you shut down your PC (desktop) from Within Windows, it's not really OFF, Dead, Cold and inactive. Your PSU is still ON, providing 5vdc power to the motherboard and start button.

So, to turn on my whole computer system, all I have to do is flip that one switch on my power strip.

To really shut your PC OFF, you must remove the line power going into it. Your computer will be much safer with NO power going into it when you've shut down for the day, or while you're away from home.
It's just a safety thing!

You do not have to add anything but updates to have this ghost turning your machine on. I recently bought a new laptop (8.0) for my wife and after the 50 updates from MS it had this bug. For me I would shut it down and I watched as it rebooted itself every time. The only way to turn it off was to hold the power button down. It took 1 day of frustration and discovery of other issues like no F8 menu, and so many other issues a tech support supervisor asked me to return the laptop as it was not fixable. My guess it had BIOS (UEFI) issues and OS problems. A lemon from the get go.

my computer and all it's peripherals are on a Switchable power strip, that I turn OFF after shutting down the PC. Because......when you shut down your PC (desktop) from Within Windows, it's not really OFF, Dead, Cold and inactive. Your PSU is still ON, providing 5vdc power to the motherboard and start button.

So, to turn on my whole computer system, all I have to do is flip that one switch on my power strip.

To really shut your PC OFF, you must remove the line power going into it. Your computer will be much safer with NO power going into it when you've shut down for the day, or while you're away from home.
It's just a safety thing!

Good Luck,
The Doctor

The Doctor beat me to the punch on that one. You are guaranteed that it will not come on if you cut the power to a desktop computer.